But they're usually preventable – through estate planning, keeping Wills updated, communication, and avoiding surprises.
Over the past three years, we've seen the number of cases relating to Wills and inheritance disputes almost treble in number.
And we're not alone. Research for STEP, the professional body for trust and estate practitioners, has highlighted a significant recent rise in inheritance disputes, with blended families particularly at risk of conflict. These disputes often involve fallouts between children and a surviving parent, step-parent, or new partner over who inherits what, or between siblings and/or stepsiblings.
Other factors are also fuelling the rise in disputes:
- Rising asset values, including their homes, often boost the value of people's estates, making it seem more worthwhile to dispute a Will.
- Poor drafting in DIY and online Wills often fails to make someone's wishes clear or opens the door for people to challenge the Will.
- People using AI to try and work out if they have a claim.
Relationship changes
One common cause of disputes in families is that people overlook the need to update a Will when their circumstances change.
Someone may have conscientiously made a Will decades ago, but since then their life has moved on. Perhaps they are divorced and living with a new partner. Perhaps they have stepchildren who they consider to be their own. Or perhaps the needs of a child or other family member have changed.
If they haven't updated their Will, these developments won't be reflected in it. Yet the executors have a duty to administer the estate in line with the existing Will and the law, even if everyone knows (or thinks they know) what the deceased would have wanted.
Don't make assumptions
Our team can help to try and resolve disputes but it is always preferable to avoid them happening in the first place: by making a Will, updating it as life changes, and communicating with family.
Too many people assume that their assets will pass automatically to the people they love – or that they will automatically inherit from a deceased partner or loved one.
This doesn't always happen and the ensuing family fallouts can be costly as well as distressing.
